Jasmine Days: Benyamin & The Far Field: Madhuri Vijay.

I read both this books one after the other. And in all likelihood my next one would be ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ by Mary Angelou.

Both the books had certain common themes and sort of raised similar questions / feelings in my mind. After all if a book does not do that I don’t think it does justice to the writer. Some reflections below.

There was a lot of father daughter relationship in the book, then there was the religion & the increasing mix of religion & politics and how it affects normal life, growing up – finding your purpose.

Religion & Politics:

Benyamin’s book is a take on the Arab Spring Rising and how in a fictitious country a dictator take control of the country gives patronage to the outsiders who keeps the state machinery running and hence divides the people of the country. How any uprising is squashed by erasing the last physical presence of the uprising. I googled and realised that the country is Syria where the author was based for many years and lot of incidents in the book had parallels to what has happened in the country.

On the other hand, The Far Field is a about Kashmir and how militancy has torn apart / divided the people of Kashmir because of their religion and the role of Army in subduing any uprising using brutal force and camouflaging the truth.

I am not a political person – the only page I do not read, in fact never read in my last 25 years is politics. I voted only in last 2 elections after my Voter ID card was made because of my 13 year stay in Karnataka. On God, I am spiritual, like mythology and have interest in temples from an architectural & historical perspective, and I do pray every day for the well being of my family. But it really does not matter who is sitting in the next table or next seat in my flight.

But I am truly scared at the growing intolerance and the path Govt is taking by introducing NRC, CAB – Citizen Amendment Bill. I am not expert nor do I intend to be, but I had the first hand experience of NRC when my family members who belong to Assam had to run pillar to post, spend money (read bribe), keep travelling, going to court with documents and fear in the eyes – what will happen if their name is not there in NRC register. This was completely unnecessary for my family who was staying since partition in the same area.

I was so shocked when we just could not reach my father in law at Jaipur and recently my uncle in Arunachal Pradesh – reason there was a complete blackout for a day or two because of violence in certain parts of the city where they stay. It just stunned me to silence. How can a govt just do that. And then I went online and read about groups have been formed in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore like the old-fashioned Orkut message boards by people whose friends and family live in Kashmir. Where anyone who gets to know about any of their family member can post – and how there were cases where someone had a medical emergency, but nobody had a clue. It’s like an operation theatre where everybody is ready but the patient never got wheeled in or the dystopian dramas where robo’s take control. Trust me when I say that I got goose bumps…

While technology has secluded the new generation and given a cocoon to live in. I believe this is something they will face as they step out of their cocoon. It will affect our daily lives and how we live. Lot of effort will go in creating this divide and then at some point a change will sweep in where we are all equal like the world of robots which is predicted in next 50 years.

Father – Daughter, Growing Up.

In my mind I cannot differentiate the two especially with two growing up daughters. Both books had excellent characters / portrayal of the lead character who is a teenager + (read after college). Both had father’s who were alone, secluded away from the family.

When you read a book, you find comfort in characters, draw parallels in your life, it rekindles some old memory and also draws conjectures on why something happened and why she behaved the way she behaved. And hence I loved both the books. For me the father-daughter relationship was cemented even before I was married, I knew the names I would give my daughter (of course I was sure I will have a daughter) and my most cherished memories are of their growing up, teaching them to cycle, swim, giving injections, waiting patiently when someone is sick and recently we were discussing the first day at school & the drama which is imprinted in my mind like a movie.    

I believe probably the most crucial phase is from Xth to college. These are the years which in some sense dictate your next 20 years, which is your prime years of life.

In Jasmine Days, the protagonist is strong, while she is principled in her views, fights for her rights and does what she thinks is right. Of course, she is lost at times and gets guided by someone she does what she thinks is right foregoing wealth for principle.

In Far Field, the character from start is confused and lost and is trying to get her bearings and the whole book is her search for her identity and hence you grow with the character learn about her past and the reason for her being the way she is. Not justification but the background/incidents of what led to what.

We often judge people, label people – maybe at my age the label is true. But the growing up age in my mind is like an incubator, there is so much going on. And especially with internet and social media – there is so much noise that for them it’s difficult to block the noise and hear their own voice, their calling as it is famously said. Which is fine, I know we cannot control it we can only mentor them in some sense and leave them to judge what is right or wrong.

I believe they will have to learn from their experience, and I am sure they will come out of it strong. When they need us they will find us.  Trust them!